Jay N. Varon is a partner in Foley’s Washington, D.C. office. He is a former chair of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice and he is the current chair of the firm’s Consumer Law, Finance & Class Action Practice. Jay litigates a broad variety of commercial matters and class actions including antitrust, unfair competition, UDAPP, environmental, and administrative procedure cases. He counsels clients in antitrust and trade regulation matters, including federal scrutiny of corporate mergers and acquisitions, predatory and below-cost pricing concerns, Robinson Patman Act questions, dealer and distribution issues, and matters arising under a variety of consumer finance statutes including RESPA, TILA, and FCRA.

代表性事项

• Representation of major real estate broker in two antitrust class actions filed against the National Association of Realtors and four national real estate brokers that challenges operation of Multiple Listing Systems and the long-standing manner of establishing compensation to buyer brokers
• Appellate representation of home warranty company in reverse McCarran Ferguson preemption case
• Representation of MLM company in FTC investigation alleging unfair competition
• Representation of network of real estate companies in California DA Investigation alleging unfair competition
• Recent representation of an energy company in an antitrust MDL involving about 40 separately filed direct and indirect purchaser cases alleging federal and state price fixing, and related antitrust violations
• Successful defense and trial of a class action on behalf of a major real estate broker alleged to have entered into a fraudulent/sham joint venture with bank designed to facilitate kickbacks; obtained defense trial verdict after a four-and-a-half-week jury trial in a matter of hours
• Representation of insurance subsidiary clients against claims of unfair completion, CLRA claims, and consumer fraud through obtaining denials of class certification and/or awards of summary judgment
• Negotiation of a consent order with the FTC involving allegations of price collusion and improper information exchange in which no equitable or monetary relief was ordered other than an injunction to comply with the antitrust laws and to adhere to certain reporting obligations
• Successful representation of purchasers in the bulk propane business and in the mortgage insurance business with respect to their ability to purchase major competitors
• Longtime counseling of insurance companies and gas utilities with respect to antitrust, filed rate and/or McCarran Ferguson matters as applicable

Clients value Jay’s many years of experience as both a litigator and counselor, as well as his command of alternative means of dispute resolution, upon which he has written and lectured, and which he has utilized, both as an advocate and as a mediator.

教育

Jay is a magna cum laude graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He attended Stanford Law School, where he was an articles editor of the Stanford Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. Following law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Robert F. Peckham, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

思想引领

Jay has authored many publications on high stake litigation and antitrust and RESPA topics, including several U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs for industry trade associations in such cases as: Spokeo v. Robins, (Article III Standing); Freeman v. Quicken Loans (RESPA); “Promoting Settlements and Limiting Costs By Means of the Offer of Judgment: Some Suggestions for Using and Revising Rule 68 33 Am. U. Law Rev. 813 (1984);” as well as shorter blog articles or pamphlets including: “China Agritech: The Supreme Court Ends Class Action Stacking,” (2018); “Justices Scrutinize The Pros and Cons of Extending American Pipe Tolling,” (2018).

Admission

He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and California*.

*California bar membership currently inactive.